Faithful God Fruitful Future
Joshua 4:1-24
28th Anniversary Message
Brian Lam
Fort Bend Community Church
2025.06.01
Introduction
The very first photograph still in existence was captured in 1826. A Frenchman named Joseph Nicéphore Niépce took it from his balcony.
Today, that photograph is housed in a museum at the University of Texas at Austin.
By 1960, people had taken three billion photos—more than half of them pictures of babies. As cameras spread, that number exploded. In 1990 alone, the world took 570 billion photos.
Then came smartphones. Suddenly, everyone became a photographer. By 2014, we took over 880 billion photos. Last year? Two trillion. That’s 225 photos for every person on Earth. All of this happened in just 200 years.
Why do we take pictures? To remember. To share. My son had his wedding video edited into a short clip—just two and a half minutes long—and shared it with his friends—a perfect little memory.
My wife and I also recorded our wedding 45 years ago. But we haven’t watched it. Not because the memories hurt. However, since it’s on an old 8mm film, we no longer have the equipment to play it. Over time, those memories have faded.
The Bible is like God’s photo album. It records His mighty acts. But these stories aren’t just keepsakes. They’re fuel for our faith. They light a fire in our hearts. They encourage us to pursue the whole and rich life God has in store for us.
When Joshua led the Israelites across the Jordan River into Canaan, God commanded Joshua to set up stones as a memorial for this very reason. It was to preserve a memory for future generations to know, and to use the story of crossing the Jordan River to motivate generation after generation of Israelites to press onward, just as they did in the past, experiencing God's mighty power, inheriting the land, and living increasingly abundant lives.
Today is far more than just another Sunday on the calendar. Today marks 28 years of God’s faithfulness to Fort Bend Community Church!
Picture this scene with me: Twenty-eight years ago—on this exact date, June 1—a group of 222 believers, including children and youth, stepped out in faith from Houston Chinese Church. Like pioneers loading up the wagons for uncharted territory, we set out to plant this church. One week later, on June 8, 1997, we held our very first worship service at Williams Trace Baptist Church. And here we stand today, 28 years later, because God has been faithful!
Just like the Israelites, we are here to look back. And we’re here to shout forward: The same God who carried us through the past will produce even greater fruit in our future!
This is our Jordan River moment. Just as Joshua commanded Israel to stack stones after crossing the Jordan, we too must raise a monument today. But understand this—these stones are for memory; they’re also for momentum! They’re stones of remembrance, but a match that reignites our passion to possess all God has promised us!
Let me tell you something about life’s turning points—they’re not accidents. Those divine encounters, those breakthrough moments, those crisis points where God showed up—they’re the bedrock of our future. They’re the rich soil where our present faith grows deep roots.
So I ask you today:
What stones has God given YOU to remember His faithfulness?
Where are your spiritual markers—those moments when heaven touched earth in your life?
Are you using them to propel you forward, or have they become dusty relics of the past?
This anniversary isn’t just about celebrating where we’ve been—it’s about charging forward to where God is taking us! The same power that parted our Red Sea moments in the past is ready to open new Jordan Rivers before us today!
Will you remember? Will you rally? Will you rise to what God has next?
[Pause]
The best days for FBCC aren’t behind us, they’re before us—if we’ll let these stones of remembrance become stepping stones to our future!
Let’s talk about stones—because not all stones are worth carrying.
Some people pick up stones of bitterness—heavy, jagged rocks of past hurts and regrets. But tell me—what good does that do? Why lug around the weight of old wounds? Those stones won’t build your future; they’ll only drag you down.
Others collect stones of success—smooth trophies of past victories. But hear this: A real hero doesn’t live on yesterday’s glory. If all you do is polish your awards, you’ll miss the new battles God has for you today. Those stones won’t light a fire in your heart—they’ll just feed your pride.
But we carry stones of God’s faithfulness! Not to boast about what we’ve done, but to declare what God has done! That’s why Joshua stacked those twelve stones—not as a monument to Israel, but as a billboard for God’s power!
That’s why we raise these memorials. Three reasons:
1. To REMEMBER what God has done (not our failures or fame).
2. To PASS ON the story (so the next generation knows His might). Build a vision for the future.
3. To CHARGE AHEAD with obedience (because yesterday’s miracles fuel tomorrow’s faith).
So drop the stones of regret. Lay down the stones of pride. Pick up the stones that shout: GOD DID THIS!—and let them launch you into all He has next.
First, erecting stones is to commemorate God's deeds--Remembering God’s Faithfulness (Joshua 4:1-6a)
All the Israelites had crossed the Jordan River. God commanded Joshua to select twelve men, one from each of the twelve tribes, to represent all the people of Israel. They took twelve stones from the place where the ark of the covenant, carried by the priests, had stood in the Jordan River, and brought them across to the other side of the Jordan River. They placed them at the campsite of the Israelites, setting up the stones as a perpetual memorial (Joshua 4:1-6a), to commemorate how the Lord God caused the waters of the Jordan to cease flowing before the ark, enabling the Israelites to walk on dry ground across the Jordan River into Canaan, to possess the promised land.
“These stones are a sign” (4:6a). The original word for “sign” is a marker, which serves to indicate and guide the way.
What kind of marker is this (show a picture of a one-way sign)? It is a one-way sign. Behind the third phase of our church building, there is a “one-way” sign. Have you noticed it? These signs convey information.
What kind of sign is this (show an illustration of a sign for new visitor parking)? What message does it convey? It is a sign for “new visitor parking,” indicating that this parking space is reserved for first-time visitors to the church.
What kind of sign is this (show a sign for parking for families with young children)? It is a sign for parking reserved for families with young children, but many people do not notice its message and ask, “How old is a young child? Is an 18-year-old still a young child?”
These signs serve as guides. The stones in Joshua 4 are spiritual signs, recounting God's marvelous deeds in the past, to guide the Israelites on their journey ahead.
Do you have a story about a stone? What kind of stone do you use as a sign? The Bible gives us many signs to remember God's works:
• The rainbow—God gave Noah the rainbow as a sign, indicating that He would no longer destroy the world with a flood.
• Circumcision—God commanded Abraham to circumcise all his male descendants as a sign of the covenant He made with Abraham.
• A new song—After crossing the Red Sea, the Israelites sang a new song to commemorate God parting the Red Sea and destroying the Egyptian pursuers. This song is still preserved today and recorded in Exodus 15:1-2: “I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and its rider he has hurled into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him; my father's God, and I will exalt him.”
• The Ark of the Covenant—God commanded Moses to make the Ark of the Covenant, symbolizing God's presence. Inside the Ark were the tablets of the law given to Moses, Aaron's staff that had budded, and a jar of manna, commemorating God's works in the wilderness.
• Baptism — God commanded us to be baptized with water to signify our faith and identification with Christ. Passing through the water represents our death, burial, and resurrection with Christ.
• The Lord's Supper — God commanded us to observe the Lord's Supper, using the simplest cup and bread to remember Jesus' sacrifice and shedding of blood for us, accomplishing the great work of redemption.
Behind these symbols lies God's story. They not only commemorate past events but also enable us to live more vibrantly today and move forward with greater strength.
Do you have a story about a stone? What do you use to commemorate God's story in your life?
These stones can be a place, a person, a spiritual experience, or an object. The stories they represent are God's works in our lives.
I have a list of people who were baptized at FBCC in the last twenty-eight years. Each one of them is a stone story. We were dead in sins and transgressions, but God made us alive with Christ. Together, there are 2,223 (slide) of us who are saved by grace through faith at FBCC.
If you are baptized at FBCC, please raise your hand to be recognized. You are a stone of remembrance of God’s faithfulness and grace.
Among those who were baptized, 20% were seniors. Many of them had never set foot in a church before. And now they are saved by God. Twenty percent were youth who grew up at FBCC. They were able to find Christ at an early age at FBCC. They are stones of witness to God’s grace.
The expansion of the Fort Bend Community Church into this area is also a “stone story.”
When we purchased these 39 acres of land in 1996, there was only a very narrow exit between the current traffic light and Senior Road. The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) did not allow us to use this exit as our main entrance and exit because it was unsafe. If we were to use the exit on Senior Road next to us, we would need to develop Senior Road, which would not only be costly but also impractical, as the section of Senior Road in front of us does not belong to us. The government has abandoned plans to develop it, leaving it as a no-man's land.
The land in front of us belongs to a Jewish man living in Dallas, who is asking for over 700,000 USD for just over an acre of land—three times the price we paid for the 39 acres.
Our entire church fasted and prayed, asking God to open a way. As a result, the city government decided, for public safety reasons (it is unsafe for church members to enter and exit Highway 6 without a traffic light), to expropriate the land in front of us and create a driveway from the traffic light to facilitate entry and exit onto Highway 6. The owner of the land in front of us eventually agreed to swap land with us, with an additional payment, allowing us to have our entrance. Now, the road we use to enter and exit is our private road, a marvelous work of God. Every time I enter and exit the church, this exit becomes a “stone set up as a memorial” for the church, reminding us of God's will and urging us to move forward.
A Nut and Bolt That Tells God's Story
Look at this ordinary nut and bolt in my hand. These came from Phase III of our children's building construction.
Remember those days? Plans that changed mid-stream. Budgets that stretched beyond limits. Voices pulling in different directions. Yet through it all - GOD HELD US TOGETHER! Just like this nut and bolt lock tight, God fastened our church as one.
Let's be honest - every church has:
• Storm seasons
• Clashing opinions
• Moments when unity frays. Churches fight and become weak.
But here's the miracle: AFTER ALL THESE YEARS - WE'RE STILL STANDING TOGETHER! Why? Because GOD REMAINS FAITHFUL even when we're faithless!
This simple hardware preaches a powerful message:
GOD'S PROTECTION - He shields us from breaking apart
GOD'S LOVE - He binds us together in Christ
Every time I hold these, I remember: Our unity isn't our achievement - IT'S GOD'S MASTERPIECE!
Because this nut and bolt aren't just construction leftovers - THEY'RE HOLY REMINDERS of the God who holds all things together!
Hurricane Harvey - Our Stone of Witness
Remember Hurricane Harvey? August 25, 2017 - a day Houston will never forget.
Picture this:
Torrential rains - over 50 inches in just 96 hours.
Raging floodwaters swallowed 200,000 homes.
Oyster Creek rises like an angry beast beside us.
We watched in awe as the waters:
Crested the riverbanks...
Flooded over our back fences...
Then, STOPPED at our front lawn like there was an invisible wall! Look at this map: the blue was the flood, and our church was on dry land in white.
But God didn't just protect this house - He PROPELLED this house into action!
600 of you became God's hands and feet:
• Tearing out soaked carpets
• Smashing through ruined walls
• Sheltering the homeless; I had 12 adults, five kids, and 2 dogs in my house for five days.
That storm didn't just flood Houston - it put FBCC on the map! When people say "Fort Bend Community Church" now, they remember: "That's the church that showed up when the waters rose!"
Harvey became our STONE OF WITNESS - proving two things:
• GOD'S PROTECTION (the waters stopped)
• GOD'S PURPOSE (we became His rescue team)
That storm wasn't just a disaster - it was a DIVINE DISPLAY of who God calls us to be!
Because THIS is why God gave us that stone of Harvey - to remind us WHO HE IS and WHAT WE'RE CALLED TO DO!
Do you have a story about a stone? What stone do you use to commemorate God's works in your life?
Write your story and send us your stones of remembrance using this QR code.
When you pick up a stone, I have a few suggestions:
First, the things we use to commemorate God's work can be very simple and don't need to be complicated. The water used in baptism is a simple thing that can be found anywhere; the bread and cup used in the Lord's Supper are simple things—we don't need to use expensive items to commemorate God's work.
Second, the stories these stones commemorate must be God's stories, not just human stories. The purpose is to commemorate God's work, which is what makes it lasting and truly meaningful! Our homes may have various trophies, certificates, and awards, but if these items only tell human stories, they can only serve as mementos and have no forward-looking power; they only evoke sighing. These things keep people living in the past, and they are not enduring. They do not bring hope for tomorrow. One day, they will all become part of the past along with us, and no one will remember them.
Only by remembering God's story do these stones have lasting meaning, able to kindle our admiration for God and inspire us to move forward. Do you agree?
Third, consider the meaning of these stones for you. The second half of verse 6 says, “In the future, your children will ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’” The Chinese Union Version and NIV translations render ‘you’ as the indirect object of the verb “ask,” but a better translation might be, “What do these stones mean to you?” (See the New Chinese Version and NASV translations.) Your descendants need to know not just the story, but the meaning “to you.” What do these spiritual stones—the rainbow in the sky, the bread and cup of the Lord's Supper, the cross, baptism, etc.—mean to you?
College admission essays in the United States typically ask applicants to write about the most crucial experience in their lives and what it means to them. Experiences require reflection to produce personal meaning. Similarly, you must reflect on the story of the stones and understand what it means to you personally. This is important!
2. Build a vision for the future and the next generation.
Read 6b-9.
In verse 8, the Israelites took twelve stones from the Jordan River and carried them to the place where they camped. In verse 9, Joshua personally set up the twelve stones at the place where the priests carrying the ark stood in the Jordan River, establishing the stones as a memorial. Whether Joshua's twelve stones were the same twelve stones carried by the twelve tribes is unclear. They may have been the same twelve stones, or they may have been different; this is not the most critical point. What matters is that Joshua personally “erected the stones as a memorial.” He set them up at the place where the priests stood to commemorate the reason the river waters ceased flowing—because of God, because of God's work. For Joshua, as the leader of the entire nation, this was a crucial reminder: it was not merely a collective remembrance but also had personal significance. It became his spiritual signpost, bringing direction and purpose.
Do you have a story about stones? What kind of stones do you use to commemorate God's work? What spiritual significance do these stones hold for you?
Erecting stones as memorials serves at least two obvious purposes: (1) witnessing and passing on the message; (2) providing the strength to move forward.
The stones were erected to perpetuate the works of God (Joshua 4:24, 6b-7, 21-24).
These stones serve as a public testimony to God: “So that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty” (Joshua 4:24), testifying to God's true courage.
They can also serve as a legacy of faith, leaving a spiritual inheritance for future generations: "These stones shall be a witness to you. In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ you shall tell them, 'It was because the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the Lord; when the ark crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones shall be a memorial to the people of Israel forever" (Joshua 4:6-7).
What do we leave for future generations? What vision do you have for the future?
When my mother passed away, she left me a Chinese kitchen knife. This knife is neither too heavy nor too light, just right for cutting, and extremely sharp—like the legendary sword in a wuxia novel that could sever a strand of hair with a single blow. I don't know why my mother left me this knife; she never said. Perhaps she hoped I would cook every day. I treasure this knife greatly and intend to pass it on to my children.
I wonder what you will pass on to the next generation? I am not referring to material possessions, houses, or swords, but rather spiritual inheritance!
I wanted to give my son my collection of over 30,000 spiritual books, but he declined. He does not desire external possessions; what he needs is spiritual inheritance—he needs to understand the marvelous works of God in my life. I will erect a stone as a memorial and share the story of these stones with them.
The church membership class is mandatory for everyone who joins the church as a member. In the membership class, we share the story of God's work in the Fubian China Church: Thirty years ago, this was a barren wasteland, but now it is fertile land, a great base for evangelism and discipleship. The purchase of this land was clearly led by God, and we acquired it for $286,000. These stories must be passed down, shared, and preserved as spiritual tales for the next generation, guiding them forward.
In the comfort of daily life, we easily focus only on the present, reducing life to mere routine. The previous generation has already passed sixty years; the next generation has already graduated from high school, college, and started families. How can we reignite our passion, start anew, and create a brighter future, reaching new heights? We must look back on the marvelous works God has done in our lives, set up a stone as a memorial, so that we may guide the next generation in the direction of life, enabling them to know how to walk.
What is our stone? What is our testimony? What are we to pass on to the next generation?
I know a couple who experienced God's transformation in their marriage and followed the Lord as a family. They designed a triangular symbol, made into a ring, which also became their business logo. It tells their children of God's mighty works in their lives, and how as they draw closer to God, their relationship grows closer. That triangular symbol is the stone they picked up to pass on to the next generation as a testimony of God's works.
Vision for the future: making disciples to follow Jesus in truth, in relationships, and in the mission of God.
3. Because setting up stones is for striving tomorrow (Joshua 4:19-20)
Moving forward in obedience
The Israelites placed twelve stones at their campsite. "On the tenth day of the first month, the people came up from the Jordan River and camped at Gilgal, east of Jericho. The twelve stones they had taken from the Jordan, Joshua set up at Gilgal" (Joshua 4:19-20). At Gilgal, the stones were set up, and Gilgal became a key site for the three major religions: (1) Gilgal, a memorial of crossing the Jordan River and the twelve stones; (2) Shiloh (Joshua 18:1); (3) Shechem (Joshua 24:1).
Joshua established a place of worship and sacrifice to God at Gilgal, which became the base for his campaign to conquer Canaan. He frequently returned to Gilgal to revisit the stones set up as a memorial, recalling the story of the Jordan River being cut off before the Ark of the Covenant, thereby reigniting their passion to fight for God.
The meaning of Gilgal can be found in Joshua 5:9: “The Lord said to Joshua, ‘Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.’ Therefore, that place was called Gilgal (meaning ‘to roll away’) until this day.”
In Chapter 10, Joshua returned to Gilgal, set out anew, sought courage, and pressed forward. He prayed at Gilgal for the sun to stand still (verse 12), and finally defeated the five fiercest kings of Canaan. In Chapter 14, Joshua returned to Gilgal and divided the land among the people. I believe that each time he returned to Gilgal, he must have looked at the twelve stones, remembering God's grace, and letting the story of God leading the Israelites across the Jordan River become his courage once again to move forward.
Setting up stones is about moving forward, bending down to pick up stones, and looking up to move forward! In my office, there is a drawer containing cards, thank-you letters, messages, and testimonies from brothers and sisters I have received over the past forty years of ministry, commemorating God's works. When I encounter difficulties or feel discouraged in my ministry, I go back to read these letters (the stones I have picked up), which give me courage to press on.
Setting stones means moving forward, bending down to pick up stones, and looking up to keep moving forward! Do you have a story about stones? Can they become your courage, enabling you to press on with renewed vigor?
Conclusion
At the crossroads of my seventieth year, I have decided to look back on God's works, record His marvelous deeds, and set stones as a memorial; I am willing to set out anew, reignite the flame, and press forward!
討論問題
1. 你生命中是否有「屬靈的立石」——那些提醒你神恩典與信實的記號？分享一個經歷，這個記號如何成為你信仰道路上的「路標」。
2. 講道提到「這些石頭在你們中間可以作為證據」。你希望未來的下一代（或周圍的人）從你的生命中看到怎樣的見證？你打算如何留下這樣的「石頭」？
3. 「吉甲」象徵釋放與重新出發。你生命中是否有某些「埃及的羞辱」需要在神面前被「輥去」？你今天願意如何回應神的呼召，重新出發？
4. 講員提到「撿怨恨的石頭與撿恩惠的石頭都不好撿」。你最近是否正在撿起一些對你或他人有影響的「石頭」？那是建立記號、見證，還是成為重擔？你願意如何處理這些「石頭」？
